Endangered species gain more protection from being eaten in China

It’s a fact that Chinese people enjoy rare animals on their menu or in their medical cabinet, but the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress improved the laws on poaching, trading and eating rare wildlife.

According to the news agency Xinhua, Chinese consumers of endangered species could be sentenced to 10 years in prison. Before the law, the majority of buyers of such animals have been walking away unpunished. “Buyers are a major motivator of large-scale illegal hunting,” declared the Deputy Head of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, Lang Sheng.

Asian black bears are farmed for their bile in Vietnam, China, South Korea and Laos.

Trading endangered species is already illegal in China, but with the new law consuming such species becomes directly liable too.

At the moment there are 420 species of wildlife on the rare / endangered species list as it was drawn by the Chinese government – with animals such as golden monkeys, pandas, pangolins and black bears amongst them.

Many animals found on the list are smuggled for their meat, body parts or fluids, regarded as delights or counted for their alleged therapeutic properties.